SilverLitz
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Help on Building Nearfield Desktop System
Bill B
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1.  Those are all excellent, high value choices.  

2.  You've laid out nearly 30 combinations and no one will have heard all those combinations.  From my finite experience, you can't go wrong with the Schiit Bifrost, and actual reviewers seem to be pretty unanimous in their positive reviews.  But I haven't heard the dac competitors you list, so no opinion on those.

3.  I'm intrigued by the reviews and looks of the KEF LS50, and agree that the Uni-Q KEF's are probably extra well suited for near-field listening.  Of the ones at your other/lower end of the price scale, I'm familiar with the AudioEngine 5's, which I like and recommend (also the 2's, if supplemented w/ a subwoofer).

SilverLitz
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I am converging on the Focal CMS50, a speaker not on my originally list, but on recommended by a responder on Computer Audiophile. The Focal CMS50 is a professional studio monitor that is internally bi-amped (80W + 50W, A/B, fully differential, e.g. balanced) with electronic crossover and a lot of EQ adjustments.  It is optimized for nearfield listening and is stated to work good as close as 50cm, which should be great for my ~70cm distance.  By comparison the Focal 705V and 706V are best for 2-3m (6-10 ft) per Focal.  I did a lot of online research and the feedback on this speaker is nearly universally glowing. I am emotionally the most comfortable with Focal, having lived with Focal drivers in my "good" system for 16 years, as I find Focal speakers are resolving but not hyped and sound like music.

The outside dimensions of the CMS50 is ~1" less in each dimension that the similar passive 705V speaker, a difference that I suspect is due to the CMS's aluminum cabinet (which would have thinner walls) vs. the 705V's MDF cabinet, yielding similar interior volumes.  Though the drivers are similar, the CMS50 are different than those of the 705V (per Focal) and are optimized for nearfield, and the LF response on the CMS50 goes about 10Hz lower (55Hz, -3dB).

The downside is that the Focal CMS50 is significantly more expensive ($1600 retail, $900 refurb w/ coupon) than the 705V ($500 retail, $325 demo) and 706V ($700 retail, $400 demo), but it already is sophisticatedly amplified, and its enclosure is better.

Now I have to focus on the DAC to feed the Focal CMS50: Marantz NA7004 (already have; $400 closeout), Schiit Bifrost Uber USB ($520), Schiit Gungir USB ($850), other ???

Bill B
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What did you get?

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